


Relativity

by MorteMistrata



Series: Lions everywhere [8]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-20
Updated: 2018-03-20
Packaged: 2019-04-05 07:38:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14039394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MorteMistrata/pseuds/MorteMistrata
Summary: Lance and Pidge talk of home and of what they may have lost.





	Relativity

“Do you remember that class with Iverson on relativity?”

Questions like that have become sparse. They’ve been out in space so long that Lance honestly doesn’t remember Earth clearly anymore. Things like classes, and homework seem useless in hindsight, and he’s all but forgotten about them in lieu of other things, like the taste of his favorite garlic knots, or the warmth of his mother’s hugs. 

“Uh,” He rubs the back of his head, nearly jabbing Pidge’s face with his elbow. “No. Not really.”

Pidge swipes down on the screen of her tablet, her fingers flying across the screen as she edits the code writhing beyond it’s plastic surface. “You were probably sleeping.” She admonishes, and Lance shrugs. The magazine in his lap tears slightly as he turns the page. “But that doesn’t matter. The implications do.”

“Dumb it down for me.”

Pidge pauses, and turns to face him. His face mask leaves his expression mostly unreadable, but it feels like she can see past it to his blushing underneath. “Time is weird. It goes faster where there’s gravity involved, and with large distances, like how far we are from home, it might not be moving at the same pace as we are.”

Lance thinks he gets that much. “So you’re saying that Earth is running on a different clock than we are?”

“Yeah. And we’ve been gone for, what, a year now?”

“Four hundred thirty-six days.”

“Right,” Pidge nods. “Now, I can’t calculate the time dilation, but it'a going to be more than five years. Normally, that wouldn’t be too bad, but I don’t know the ratio, or how to find it, honestly.”

Lance feels out of his element. He hasn’t had reason to keep up on the sciences, like what Pidge is asking of him now. Still, it feels like she’s taking him to a resolution that won’t be satisfying at all. “Okay. So what’s the ratio mean?”

“How much time here is worth five years on earth? Could be one year. Could be a month.” For the first time, Lance notices tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. She wipes them away with the sleeves of her sweater. “How long has our Earth been dead?”

Lance’s blood runs cold. That post-war dream of returning to his mother’s house, eating garlic knots and pizza on the beach as he tells his cousins of his many heroic efforts, all of that falls away. Everything at home might be gone. He shakes his head, and then pulls Pidge into his side. Her hair smooshes itself against his robe as her tears run down her face. 

“Yeah, but that’s only a might. Even /you/ have been known to be wrong sometimes.” He squeezes her comfortingly, and plays with her hair with shaking fingers. “And you’ve got family out here. You’ve got Matt, and…and us.”

She sniffs and straightens up. “I don’t think you count as family, Lance. I don’t kiss /you/ like I’d kiss my mother.”

“But you get my point.” 

“That I’m not alone and that getting caught up on it won’t change things?”

Lance flinches. That wasn’t what he’d meant for her to get from it, but she’s smarter than he is, and if that’s her conclusion, it’s probably right. “Yeah.” He kisses her just below her eye, and licks the tear off of her cheek.

“Ew.” She giggles, and pushes him away. “You’re gross.”

He wiggles his eyebrows. “I’ve done worse with you with this tongue.”

They fall back into a cheerful exchange of insults, and kisses, but Lance knows that the thought still lingers. What if they’re doing this for nothing? What if they spend their lives fighting someone else’s war, only to find their futures stolen? What if?


End file.
